November
27, 2003

Vick Mickunas, the
WYSO music director and radio host, was taken off the air and placed on
administrative leave last Thursday.

Antioch University
officials would not comment on the reasons for the move nor what comes
next, describing the situation as a personnel matter that cannot be discussed
until it is resolved.

A 10-year veteran
of the station, Mickunas hosts the music program “Excursions”
and the popular “Book Nook,” an author-interview program.

Many local residents
and station supporters responded to the news with alarm at what they perceive
as continuing problems between some WYSO employees and station management.
A year ago, News Director Aileen LeBlanc quit WYSO, citing difficulty
working with station management. In the spring of 2002, the station’s
general manager, Steve Spencer, cut several volunteer-hosted programs,
sparking protests and leading to the formation of the group Keep WYSO
Local, which has been critical of the station management.

The concern over
Mickunas’s suspension spread beyond Yellow Springs.

“I’m
stunned,” Sharon Kelly Roth, the director of public relations at
Books & Co. was quoted as saying in a Nov. 22 Dayton Daily News article
on the action. “He [Mickunas] is regarded as the best interviewer
in the country by the authors who come to town. He’s so wonderful
at what he does.”

Contacted by the
Yellow Springs News on Monday, Spencer immediately hung up the phone.
Tim Tattan, the WYSO program director, did not return a phone call, and
an answering machine at the home of Mickunas said that Antioch University
had forbidden him to speak to the media.

The Dayton Daily
News reported that Mickunas was being investigated for “insubordination,”
citing as a source an e-mail from Andy Valeri, who the Daily News described
as a Dayton media activist who is critical of Spencer’s management.

However, since that
time Antioch University officials have dissociated the action from station
management.

Mickunas “was
placed on paid administrative leave by the university, not by WYSO management,”
Suzette Castonguay, the Antioch University director of human resources
said in a statement Tuesday. “The university’s action was
not related to Mr. Mickunas’s on-air performance; however we cannot
comment on the reason for placing Mr. Mickunas on administrative leave
because it is the policy of Antioch University that all personnel matters
remain confidential. An internal investigation is underway, and when the
internal investigation is completed, University officials will determine
whether or not any further disciplinary action is warranted.”

According to Lisa
Vantrease of Beavercreek, who called Spencer to register her distress
at the action, Spencer said that he personally hoped to see Mickunas back
on the air but that the Antioch University administration has “grave
concerns” about Mickunas.

However, it is not
clear what those concerns are or exactly which administrators have them.

University Vice Chancellor
Glenn Watts, who oversees the station, has been out of the country since
the beginning of the month, and is unavailable for comment. According
to Castonguay, in Watts’s absence, decisions are directed to Chancellor
Jim Craiglow, who spends most of his time at Antioch New England in Keene,
N.H.

However, Bev Francis,
a member of Keep WYSO Local, contacted Craiglow last Thursday immediately
after learning of the action against Mickunas. She said that Craiglow
reacted with surprise when told the news, and had not been told of the
action.

Asked this week if
he knew that Mickunas was going to be placed on leave before hand, Craiglow
said “I’m not going to answer that.”

Told that Craiglow
did not seem to have knowledge of the disciplinary action before it happened,
Castonguay responded, “No one was aware before it happened. It just
happened.”

Castonguay also said
that it “would be inappropriate,” to speculate who was responsible
for the disciplinary action. She did say that as human resources director
she formally signed off on Mickunas’s administrative leave.

Randy Daniel, the
president of the WYSO Resource Board, said that the board had no role
in the actio n. He also said that “Vick is a great on-air personality
and I hope it gets resolved.”